Wall faucets are often mounted with fasteners directly to an interior building surface, such as drywall. Thus an installer must exercise care so not to damage the interior building surface, which increases the time and cost of installation. Regardless of the standard of care exercised during installation, damage to the interior building surface is a common problem after installation.
More specifically, normal use of the faucet, and often an interconnected hose, generates loads on the fasteners that secure the faucet to the building surface which eventually damage the interior building surface. For example, when an interconnected hose is moved or pulled, the loads exerted on the faucet are reacted by the fasteners and transferred to the wall surface. Continued loading of the fasteners will eventually cause the fasteners to damage the wall surface and weaken the connection between the faucet and the interior building surface. Ultimately, the forces may cause the faucet to dislocate from the interior building surface, perhaps permanently damaging the building surface. Separation of the faucet from the interior building surface may also cause the faucet to disconnect from fluid supply tube(s) that are interconnected to the faucet.
Some devices currently used to secure a faucet to an interior building surface comprise a housing with a mounting surface that is recessed relative to the building surface. These devices are commonly found associated with washing machines and also include an outwardly protruding lip that directly abuts to the building surface. As the lip is interconnected directly to the building surface, the potential for wall damage described above remains a concern. Another drawback of the prior art mounting scheme is that the faucet handle or handles are disposed within the housing and recessed relative to the building surface and are thus difficult to access by some users. An example of a device that employs this mounting technique is provided in U.S. Pat. No. 5,050,632 to Means, Jr.
Thus it is a long felt need to provide a device that provides an attachment location for a wall faucet that minimizes the risk of damage to the surface to which the faucet is interconnected, minimizes the use of interior wall space, and is aesthetically pleasing. The following disclosure describes an improved system for interconnecting a wall faucet to an interior surface of a building that addresses and overcomes the problems described above and those other problems that would be understood by those of skill in the art.